The Hallowed Catalyst

Prologue: Death, with a little bit of chance

"Haaa... Haaa..."

I breathed heavily, since I knew I was going to die.

I was bleeding a lot. The stench was as pungent as ever.

For some reason, I wasn't scared. Okay, maybe a little. I should be, since I had a pistol between my eyes, ready to blow my brains out.

My body felt weak. I was shot several times, in both my arms, and in the abdominal region.

Even if I miraculously got out of this predicament, I'd still later on succumb due to blood loss.

What was our objective again?

Ah, of course, to save those poor hostages. We, that is, us group of six Marines, did find them, except they were just bait.

We were ambushed by a group of terrorists. Three of us were immediately taken out, while the rest of us surrendered our weapons, while being held at gunpoint.

If only those idiots had listened to me. I stayed behind to buy them time to escape. I managed to take out two in the process, at the cost of several fatal wounds.

I hope to god those damn bastards are still alive.

"Any last words, scum?"

I'm scum? Ironic.

"How about you let me go? Hehe."

He frowned at me with disgust.

"You wish to run? HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Had to try, you know."

I shut my eyes close, and counted my last few seconds. With each passing moment, I knew my end was nigh.

I heard the sound of the pistol cocking.

"Hope you find peace in the afterlife, American."

I gulped down a bit of my saliva, and thought about my life. What did I ever do? Did I deserve to go to heaven? I did kill people for a living, in the name of my country, after all.

Is peace what truly awaits me? Or is it eternal suffering? These are questions one could never answer in their lifetime.

I don't deserve the light. I dirtied my hands for far too long, and now I'm going to pay the price for it.

"Open your eyes, soldier."

I heard the voice of a woman... it was... warm, as warm as the morning sun. It felt nothing like the cold hell that I was in.

I opened my eyes, and they focused on the woman in front of me.

She looked beautiful, and graceful, like a maiden from a renaissance painting. Her silver hair, and pale skin were astounding to look at.

The first words that came out of my mouth after looking at her were, "Where's the damn terrorist?"

"Nishikawa Amano, was it? You're a brave soldier. Sacrificing yourself in order to buy time for your surviving teammates to escape... you truly have the qualities of a leader."

"How do you know my name? And where on god's green earth am I?"

"We, are right now within your subconscious mind.

"With all due respect, I don't have time to be talking philosophy with you, lady. I have to complete my mission."

"And what might that be?"

"To--"

I only then realised that it was long over.

We had already rescued the hostages, and I had bought enough time.

"Okay, you've made your point, silver-hair. But what is this place? A dream? Hallucination? The afterlife? 'Cause the last thing I remember is having a gun being pointed at me between my eyes, as I was kneeling down. This place is empty. It's all white! What is going on?"

"Like I said, we're within your subconscious mind. You can call me god, angel, or whatever you humans have been calling me for the past few millennia."

"Okay, god, I'll play along. Am I dead?"

"Not yet. I have slowed down time several times over. We're conversing within your subconsciousness. I have merely materialised your thoughts. Here, you feel no pain, but you can still feel emotions."

She spoke of things I could normally never understand, yet I understood every single word. It was probably her doing.

"Let's say I believe you. Why are you here, then?"

"You impressed me, is all. I was moved by your actions. Such a young man, sacrificing his life for his teammates and those hostages. You reminded me of the goodness within man."

"I'm flattered, but what about it? It was my duty as a soldier to ensure the success of the mission, and to minimise casualties."

"What's impressive is that you could have saved yourself and run, yet you chose to stay. You're a second away from death as of now, soldier."

I scratched my head in confusion, and asked, "So what happens now? Are you here to take me to the promised land? Or send me south?"

She giggled a bit, and answered, "No, silly. I'm here to offer you a chance."

"At what? Life?"

"Of course. But not on earth. A place very far from it. It's another world. You will retain all your memories from this life, and even your body. It's like you'll just be transported there, But you will have your wounds healed, and you'll feel good as new."

"Why are you doing this? If you're a god, then why not get me out of here? I have many more things to accomplish."

"Unfortunately, I have to let things run their course. Otherwise, I wouldn't be doing my job. You should know it better than anyone else, soldier."

I looked at her, and hesitantly asked her, "What will happen to me on Earth? Will I die?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Your soul, however, will be transported to the other world, along with a newly reconstructed body. It will only take a few minutes."

"I have seen some weird crap in my life. And you, lady, or... god... or, whatever the hell you are, are crazy. And you know what, to put the cherry on top of the cake, I shall even agree to your proposal. Surprise me."

She walked up to me with a huge smile, and flicked my forehead. It hurt a bit, as I exclaimed, "OW!"

"I'm sure you'll bring about changes. Good luck, Amano."

She disappeared within a blinding flash of light, leaving no traces.

In the next instant, I was back to the real world, accompanied by the stench the blood.

*BANG*

I was shot-dead. But I didn't feel any pain. Only, I regretted that I never had the time to say good-bye to my family and friends.

I always learned things the hard way, but I never was alone. For the first time in my life, did I understand the true meaning of it.

I crash landed onto the ground from about 50 feet. Most of the impact was cushioned thanks to the wet soil.

I picked myself up and looked around, and saw many trees--no, JUST trees. I apparently ended up in a forest so dense, that it made the amazon rainforest look like a botanical garden. Plus, my wounds were healed, no, gone. No scars at all. I felt energised. The air was very clean to breathe in.

Was this the world that the silver-haired lady was talking about? If so, where do I go now?